After
limping a few yards away from the dying clown, Jack figured he should
stop and bind his leg wounds. The others weren’t as bad, but the first
stab he had received went deep. Cursing his poor progress, he took in
his surroundings as he tied the torn t-shirt over the seeping wound.
The
hallway stretching before him appeared to be lit just enough to keep
someone from walking headfirst into a wall. The walls themselves twisted
in odd angles that distorted his vision. It looked like Alice in
Wonderland meets Willy Wonka after taking some bad acid.
Groaning
inwardly, he pushed himself to his feet, but then froze. Another scream
could just be heard echoing through the place. It sounded like it came
from overhead.
“I
wonder how many poor souls entered this ride tonight?” he whispered.
Then the thought occurred to him as to how many might have entered it
over the years and never came out. Town after town, parking lot after
parking lot. This ride, like some horrid monster, could be swallowing up
the locals by the dozens. Then it would just move to a new, small dying
town and start over again.
Jack
shivered once, but after clutching his dagger tighter, he entered the
chaotic corridor. The walls and even floors pitched at strange angles.
Soon, it became difficult to walk without braced one hand against a wall
for support. Before him the hallway appeared to be shrinking. He
crouched over and his skull ran along the roof. A door loomed before
him, but it barely looked big enough to fit a mouse.
Behind
him something moved. A blackness rose from the floor. Like a man
picking up a dark robe, something sprang out of nothing. A moan filled
his ears as the living darkness spread across the length of the hallway.
It scrapped long ebony tendrils against both walls. These seemed real
enough for these talons created a sharp shriek that sounded like metal
being dragged over a tin roof.
“Ah, holy hell,” he muttered as the thing filled his vision.
Turning
back toward the tiny door seemed a fool’s errand. He would be lucky if
he could fit his boot through the thing. But looking back at the
swirling cloud of blackness, he didn’t want to fight that if he didn’t
have too. More talons had formed until the encircled the shape
completely. Jack guessed that it must have at least forty jagged edges
that it would be able to use to cut him to pieces.
Thinking
that he might be able to cut through the wall, Jack leaned down and
opened the miniature door. He figured he could at least see what lurked
on the other side and wouldn’t waste his time trying to break through if
it was just a steal wall.
Turning
his back to the moaning blackness made his skin feel like insects
crawled over his clammy flesh. Any second, he figured dozens of sharp
fingers of writhing darkness would be tearing at him.
Then
something completely unexpected happened. As soon as he had opened the
fake door and panel had slid to the side revealing a steel leader
heading up. The sharp fingers of darkness were only two feet from him
and without another wasted second, he leapt to the ladder. It held as he
rushed up its length.
Behind
him, the creature moaned in anger as its sensed its prey’s escape. Torn
strips of razor edged darkness grasped at him and Jack cried out in
pain as the calves of his jeans were shredded. They sought for a hold,
but Jack scrambled past its grip. Passing through an opening about the
size of a manhole cover helped, but the nebulous shape moved toward him
and appeared to be continuing its pursuit. As he crab walked away from
the opening, his hand brushed something. A loud click was heard and
then, a second later, a cover slid over the passage he had just traveled
through.
“They
must want to keep it down there for the next victim,” he mumbled to
himself. “It’s hard to believe that most people would have made it this
far, but maybe they’re pulling out all the stops for me. Either way, if
there are any innocents in here I need to find them before I burn this
hell hole to the ground.”
With new determination, Jack pressed on and began his exploration of the Haunted House’s second level.
To be continued next Monday
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